Percussion instruments comprise a wide variety of musical devices well known in the prior art, including, but not limited to drums having one or more membranes, called drumheads, stretched over the end or ends of a hollow cylinder or shell. Sounds are produced by striking the drumhead with a stick, mallet, brush, or even the player's hand, or any portion thereof. The sound produced by a drum depends upon a variety of factors, including, among them, but not limited to; the shape, size, and thickness of the shell; the materials from which the shell is fabricated; the material comprising the drumhead; and the tensioning of the drumhead.
All drums are built to withstand constant pounding, however some drums, known as cajons, are constructed with wooden heads and can withstand even more battering than their animal skin or mylar-headed counterparts.
A Cajon is a box or cuboid shaped percussion instrument originally from Peru and traditionally constructed out of wood. Because of the superior durability of wood, cajons are often utilized when weather or atmospheric changes could damage traditional animal skin or synthetic drum heads. However even a bass cajon-drum cannot withstand the weight and stresses of a human being walking, running, dancing, or jumping upon it. And even if a thin resonant material were discovered that could withstand such stresses, the presence of the other foot while the user was stepping or walking atop the drum would effectively dampen the vibration and mute the drum.
An object of the current invention is to produce a bass drum which can be played by the user while they are standing, jumping, walking, or running upon it.
Commonly, bass drums are struck from the side, either with a mallet—as when being performed in a marching band or concert hall—or by a kick-drum pedal, utilized when the drum is situated in a drum set or kit setup. Alternatively, there is an upward firing pedal which strikes the underside of a floor-torn drum when the kit is meant to be performed by a standing player, commonly called an “upright” or “cocktail” kit. All pedal designs, however, require one foot or part thereof to depress a pedal before the attached mallet or hammer is triggered to hit the drum head, thereby limiting the user's range of motion for the associated foot.
An object of the current invention is to allow for a drum to be sounded by a player standing upon a platform raised or floating above said drum and either walking, running, leaning, or jumping upon said platform, thereby triggering a striking mechanism (described herein) situated either inside said drum or in the space between said floating platform and the resonant top of said drum by the simple redistribution of the player's weight, allowing the user to move both feet freely.
Kit drumming offers a wonderful workout for the upper body; the arms and hands specifically, and with modern double bass-drum pedal systems, advanced users can get quite an aerobic workout performing on a drum kit, however the drums must be played in a sitting posture; with common side effects including hemorrhoids and achilles tendon injuries. In addition, while it is accepted that the upper drums in a traditional drum kit are most ergonomically situated horizontally around the seated performer for speed and accuracy, if they were situated vertically, allowing the user to strike not only downward, but forward and upward as well, they would provide increased possibilities for upper body muscular development.
It is an object of the current invention to allow one to perform rhythmic patterns on vertically mounted drums deployed in such a way that striking them exercises specific muscles in the upper body while, at the same time, jumping, running, walking, or dancing on a floating spring-mounted platform above a specially designed bass drum creates a steady bass pattern, simultaneously exercising the lower body while providing aerobic workout for the cardiovascular system.
Bouncing to music is as natural as tapping one's foot and is very popular with younger adults and children. There is a style of music known as “rave” in which the most accepted and common form of dancing is bouncing along to a steady beat. Bouncing is fun but can become tiring on the feet, legs, and joints.
It is an object of the current invention to create an apparatus upon which users can jump or bounce that is in fact bouncy. Additionally, while bouncing is always fun—as evidenced by the popularity of trampolines—if one could make a sound like a “thump” or “knock” while bouncing it would make the process that much more satisfying when bouncing in time to music.
It is an object of the current invention to create a platform upon which users can jump and bounce while producing satisfying sounds on every landing.